During the Qing Dynasty, foreign capital invaded, as a coastal area of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai first felt the power of the rise of the commodity economy, the rise of the commodity economy, so that the citizen class can be formed. Their aesthetics gradually influenced the painter's cultural concept and aesthetic mentality.
The main patron of the painter changed from the original scholar class to the citizen class, and the expression method and aesthetic also changed, and the bright colors, beating brushstrokes, and secularized subject matter gradually transformed the aesthetics of the literati into a broader aesthetic of the citizens.
Zhao Zhiqian lived in such an environment of alternating old and new, and was one of the very important calligraphers and painters of the Qing Dynasty, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. In the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859), he was raised to the county of Chengzhi County, southwest of Guanjiang.
He is good at painting freehand flowers, with smooth brush and ink, and has strong colors, and is known as the "three major painters of the late Qing Dynasty" together with Ren Bonian and Wu Changshuo. At the same time, he is also the main leading figure of Haipai painting.
In his early paintings, Zhao Zhiqian was mostly copied. At the beginning, he mainly took the elegant and beautiful and elegant painting styles of Fa Luzhi, Yun Shouping, Wang Wu, Jiang Tingxi and others, among which Yun Shouping's color style and boneless technique had a great influence.
Then he took Chen Chun, Xu Wei, Shi Tao, and Yangzhou's "Eight Monsters" into the paintings with books, and the painting style of Xiongjian and Free, of which Li Qi had a great influence on him.
His calligraphy, which was fused with The Wei Tablet by yan body, gradually formed a strong and calm, vigorous and old-fashioned style, and he said in a letter to Qin Miandian: "Thirty years ago, I realized that calligraphy and painting seal carving was not yet worthwhile, and after the end of the year, I was bent on opening up the road and opening up a new situation... ”
When he was about thirty-four years old, the golden stone qi formed in calligraphy was integrated into the creation of flower and bird painting, and the two major schools of flower and bird painting in the Qing Dynasty were integrated into the "Golden Stone Painting School", creating a style of "magnificent and ancient, Clean and elegant".
Its pursuit of broad and strong, fresh and timeless painting style, in the late qing and heavy painting style to give people a refreshing, breathless aesthetic feeling.
In Zhao's paintings in his mature period, he carved the layout with calligraphy and seals, and painted with the atmosphere of gold and stone, the colors were bright and saturated, the contrast between shades and shades was obvious, and the subject matter was popular with the public, showing the literati education, the momentum of the golden stone and the humorous taste.
Zhao Zhiqian's influence on the "Changzhou School" and the "Yangzhou School" was weakening, and the gap period when the Hai School had not yet formed played a role in inheriting the past and enlightening the future.
Under the specific historical conditions of the late Qing Dynasty epigraphy, Zhao Zhiqian tried to absorb the traditional essence in his lifelong artistic practice, and according to his understanding of social aesthetics, he made a certain degree of reconciliation and innovation. His artistic achievements opened the curtain of the Hai School and pointed out the direction for later masters such as Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi and so on.